A. Applicability Of State And City Regulations: The state traffic laws regulating the speed of vehicles shall be applicable upon all streets within the city except as this section, as authorized by state law, hereby declares and determines regulations shall be applicable upon specified streets or in certain areas, in which event, it shall be unlawful for any person to drive a vehicle at a speed in excess of any speed so declared in this section when signs are in place giving notice thereof.
B. Reasonable And Prudent Speed: No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing. In every event, speed shall be so controlled as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any person, vehicle, or other conveyance on or entering the highway in compliance with legal requirements and the duty of all persons to use due care.
C. Specific Speed Limits: Except when a special hazard exists that requires lower speed for compliance with subsection B of this section, the limits specified in this subsection or established as hereinafter authorized shall be lawful speeds, and any speed in excess of the limits specified shall be prima facie evidence that such speed is not reasonable or prudent, and that it is unlawful.
1. Alleys: The speed limit shall be ten (10) miles per hour in any alley.
2. School Zones:
a. The speed limit shall be twenty (20) miles per hour when passing any school building or when crossing any marked school zone, such zone to extend one hundred fifty feet (150'), unless otherwise posted, in either direction from any marked school crossing when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected, and any of the following exist:
(1) A school speed limit sign with flashing lights attached and the words "when flashing" included and the lights are activated; or
(2) A school speed limit sign with "when children are present" included thereon, or there is a child or children present. "When children are present" shall be defined to mean whenever one or more children are on the roadway, sidewalk, pathway, road shoulder, in front of school buildings, or on adjacent school grounds. This definition applies to children present on the same side of the street as the school building, as well as across the street from the school building in any direction within the marked school zone, and is not restricted to school days or hours.
(3) A school speed limit sign with "7:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M." included thereon.
(4) On streets where the maximum speed limit is twenty (20) miles per hour, a school zone will be identified by a sign stating "school". (Ord. 395, 9-7-2004)
b. No person shall operate a vehicle on a highway in a marked school zone in excess of the speed limit as established in this subsection C2. Any person that violates this subsection shall be deemed guilty of an infraction and, upon conviction thereof, shall be assessed a fixed penalty of three hundred dollars ($300.00), plus court costs and fees as established by resolution of the city council. An infraction is punishable only by a penalty not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300.00) and for which no period of incarceration may be imposed. There is no right to a trial by jury of a citation or complaint for an infraction, and such trial shall be held before the court without a jury. (Ord. 395, 9-7-2004; amd. 2015 Code)
3. All Other Streets: The speed limit shall be twenty (20) miles per hour upon all other streets in the city. (Res. 399, 8-9-2005; amd. 2015 Code)
D. Authority To Alter Speed Limits: Whenever the city council determines, on the basis of an engineering or traffic investigation, and the residential, urban or business character of the neighborhood abutting the highway in a residential, business or urban district, that the speed limit permitted under this section is greater than is reasonable and safe under the conditions found to exist upon a highway or part of a highway or because of the residential, urban or business character of the neighborhood abutting the highway in a residential, business or urban district, the city council may determine and declare a reasonable and safe maximum limit which: (Ord. 395, 9-7-2004; amd. 2015 Code)
1. Decreases the limit within a residential, business or urban district; or
2. Decreases the limit outside an urban district.
E. Driving Too Slowly: It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic at the point of operation thereof, except when a reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with any law, rule, or regulation. (Ord. 395, 9-7-2004)